Black Eye Of The Tao Abyss
by unrelenting-torment247
Summary: Sakura and Syaoran's reunion is cut short and a twisted game takes place. The greatest magicians now fight to make their deepest desires come true... plz R&R! S&S 4EVA!possible Lemons in L8ter chap UNDER REVISION
1. Reacquaintance With Little Wolf

Disclaimer: I do not own CCS or anything else for that matter... if you sue me, all you can win is my debts... he hee hee...;  
  
A/N: I know I should be working on my other story right now... but I can't help it... I've got to get this story out of my mind! But I really have a very bad understanding of the CCS plot... so don't kill me...  
  
Black Eye Of The Tao Abyss  
  
Chapter One:  
  
Re-acquaintance With Little Wolf  
  
It's been about a year since Sakura has transformed the last clow card into a star card. Shortly after that, Syaoran and Meilin had to return to China. After all this time, Sakura still has not heard anything from her far-away friends. A lot has changed since then, Tomoyo had moved, much to Sakura's disappointment, but they managed to stay in touch.  
  
Sakura and Eriol have been going out for about three months now, but Sakura still couldn't forget Syaoran and his amber-coloured eyes and chestnut hair. All of their old arguments and fights seemed so silly now, even though at the time Sakura sure seemed to think it were reasonable.  
  
"Brat, it's a letter for you..." said Touya, her older brother.  
  
"Really?" Sakura asked as he handed her a letter in a light pink envelope. "...and don't call me a brat!"  
  
"Whatever, it's from that Chinese baka friend of yours... Sayran is it?" Touya said, getting the name wrong on purpose. "It seems that he's really getting to know his feminine side."  
  
"Shut up Touya..." Sakura muttered under her breath as she opened her letter from Syaoran.  
  
Dear Sakura,  
  
I know I haven't been in touch with you or anyone else for that matter. I've been pretty busy myself and I'm going on a trip to Japan soon. I can meet you at the airport on May 14th. I'll be staying in a hotel with Meilin and another friend who I think you should meet. Oh, and Meilin says hi as well. I have a feeling that this time I might stay longer than last time. I don't know why, but it seems that my mother really wanted me to be in Japan for a while.  
  
Sincerely, Syaoran  
  
P.S: I also have a present for you... well actually, three presents... one from me, one from Meilin, and one from my mother for some reason. The package should arrive one day after you receive this letter. Sakura wondered what Syaoran would have gotten her. She knew that there was nothing between them so she couldn't really expect anything much. She looked closely at the letter and noticed a lot of scratches near the sincerely Syaoran part. Where it now says sincerely, there seemed to have been the word love. Sakura used the time card on the letter and she couldn't believe what she saw. The page was blank. Then words started to form...  
  
Dear Sakura,  
  
I'm sorry I haven't written to you for so long. To tell you the truth, I couldn't bare to contact you because... well... I ... ugh... love you...  
  
Sakura felt her heart start to flutter, but then the words started to get erased. Sakura thought that this was because this is what Syaoran had originally written before he eraised the words and wrote what was here at the present. However when the word sincerely began to take form, the word faded and was replaced with love. Then love faded and sincerely appeared and then sincerely faded and love appeared and so on. This would have been quite amusing to Sakura if the letter were not for her.  
  
The next day, Sakura received a rather large package from the mail person (WOO HOO I didn't forget to put mail person instead of mailman I'm so proud...lol...). She couldn't wait any longer so she just ran upstairs to her room and brutally attacked the box (ok, so that's how I open packages, you got a problem with that?) until only three average sized parcels lay on her bed. She opened one and saw a beautifully crafted amulet. The amulet had two engraved pictures on it. On one side, there was a pink cherry blossom, on the other side; there was some kind of puppy-like animal with a light blue lily in its paws.  
  
Sakura picked up a note that read:  
  
Dear Sakura, I made this myself, I know that the stone has magic properties, but I never really found out what it can really do. I just hope you like it. Syaoran.  
  
Smiling like a little girl who has just met Cinderella (I couldn't think of anymore examples... lol...) Sakura put on the amulet and started to open the next package.  
  
"Huh?" Sakura pondered as she thought she saw the second package move by itself.  
  
She opened the parcel slowly to unravel a black card. It looked exactly like one of her star cards but one side was entirely blank and the other was entirely black with a blue star in the middle.  
  
There was a very short note, which told her to protect it at all costs, but nothing else. She thought that this card was probably from Yelan since Meilin would have written more about the card if she were the one who sent it.  
  
The last packet turned to contain a small yellowy pink fan, which had pictures of baby birds on it and more cherry blossoms. Meilin's note was almost as long as Syaoran's letter from the day before. There was nothing really important in there except for Meilin telling her that she would know when the time comes for her to use this fan.  
  
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
The day had come when Sakura, Eriol, and Tomoyo met up at the airport to wait for Syaoran, Meilin and the other person who was coming with them.  
  
"Flight number 13a from Hong Kong has arrived..." the intercom buzzed  
  
And there he was, standing near the exit gate from the plane...Syaoran. He looked much more mature than when Sakura had last saw him. He was much taller, he had a better-developed chest and there was something in his eyes that can make people back away from him. When he saw Sakura, he came over and hugged Sakura who was surprised but was only too glad to return the hug. The hug lasted a bit too long for Eriol's liking but he just shrugged away his jealousy as he shook hands with Syaoran.  
  
"SAKURA!" shouted a familiar female voice as she turned to look into a pair of giddy red eyes. Beside the new arrival was.............  
  
There... I'm done for today... if anyone who reads this story likes Harry Potter fan fics please feel free to read my other fan fic.  
  
Please review!  
  
S-S signing of... 


	2. Tao, the Black Clow

Disclaimer: for the millionth time... I own stuff! But not ccs... ;  
  
A/N: Sorry people! I wasn't able to update for quite a while... ugh... I don't think a lot of you liked this fic anyways... so... well... here's chapter two...  
  
Black Eye Of The Tao Abyss  
  
Chapter Two:  
  
Tao, the Black Clow  
  
"SAKURA!" shouted a familiar female voice as she turned to look into a pair of giddy red eyes. Beside the new arrival was a man that seemed so much like Yukito. He was wearing white jeans with a light blue t-shirt and a white leather jacket to top it all off.  
  
"MEILIN!" screamed an excited Sakura just as loud (if not louder...is that even possible?), as they drew each other into a heart-warming hug filled with giggles. Tomoyo sweat dropped but was also dragged into the pair and things turned into a group hug.  
  
"Let me introduce you to my uncle Sakura. This is uncle Tao." Meilin, motioning towards the figure that looked so much like Yukito and didn't look much older than him either."  
  
"Nice to meet you." Sakura stretched out her hand for a handshake.  
  
"The honour is all mine..." Tao responded with the voice of a thousand angles. It was soft but firm, deep but high-pitched. It was a voice filled with experience, wisdom. But most importantly, it was a voice of mystery.  
  
He took hold of Sakura's out stretched hand and kissed the back of it. This caused a great many of things to occur (even though it was just a small peck).  
  
Sakura blushed mad, glancing first at Syaoran, then at Eriol.  
  
Eriol looked between Sakura and Tao, then between Syaoran and Sakura. His face was turning red with envy and anger.  
  
Syaoran cleared his throat and pretended to look confused and act as if nothing had happened. Even though inside, Syaoran wasn't much better off than Eriol was.  
  
Meilin stared at her uncle, but then started a hilarious fit of giggles as she watched the reactions of the people around her. She glanced first at Eriol's face then at Syaoran. She knew Syaoran long enough to tell when he was pissed off... and this time he was REALLY pissed.  
  
Tomoyo was messing with the video camera again, hoping to have caught everything on video. "Anyways... uncle Tao... what was your surprise for us? You said you were going to show it to us when we're all gathered here." Meilin said, trying to conceal another fit a giggles and trying to change the current subject.  
  
"Yes... thank you Meilin... I almost forgot... Sakura, by any chance, did you receive a black card from Yelen?"  
  
"Ugh... yea... I have it with me right now in fact..."  
  
"Then do you mind handing it to me for a second?"  
  
"Sure..." Sakura replied, but something about Tao's appearance changed after she had said that the card was with her. 'Nah, nothing will go wrong if I gave the card to him. After all, he was Meilin's uncle, and it was only going to be for a second or too. What can go wrong?' She handed over the card reluctantly, but Tao grabbed the card as soon as it was offered.  
  
'Yes... the overlord will be proud indeed...' Tao thought to himself.  
  
"Do you know what this card does Sakura?"  
  
"No... I was hoping that you could tell me..."  
  
"Then allow me to demonstrate..." Tao replied with a maniacal smile that truly did not match his calm demeanor...  
  
Woo! I'm done... well for now anyways... ugh... one more review and I update...  
  
Please review!  
  
S-S signing of... 


	3. The Rivals' Game and The Lovers' Stone

Disclaimer: I own nothing but what I have... don't tell me you're going to sue me for my life now are you?

A/N: Sorry everyone... though I don't think many people cared at all... but no matter... I will not stop until the story is done... I had computer problems so I couldn't post this up until recently... well... on with the story...

Black Eye Of The Tao Abyss

Chapter Three:

The Rivals' game and The Lovers' Stone

"Then allow me to demonstrate..." Tao replied with a maniacal smile that truly did not match his calm demeanor as what seemed like some sort of pixy dust started to fall onto everyone. This made everyone sleepy except for Tao and Sakura. "What's going on?" Sakura asked the man in front of her. Things seemed bad, even though nothing major has started yet.

"You see Sakura... that card of yours belong to a deck known as the Abyss cards. Clow Reed was not the only person to practice magic in the form of card, even though he was one of the first. After the creation of the Clow cards, many other magicians caught up and created their own cards. Many of these magicians were weaker than Clow Reed of course, though that doesn't mean that there weren't stronger sorcerers either."

"Then, competition started. Many claimed as the greatest cardsman (or cardswomen ;) ever to live and thus, rivals were born. Everything was in good sport until the day came when the unthinkable happened. A man died in one of these battles and his blood covered all over his cards. Worse than that, the opponent of the man stole the bloody deck and, using the dead man's blood, created what we now know as the Abyss cards."

"A horrible curse was cast on the cards and every person that used the cards would die right after they are used. However, the cards will choose a soul owner and he or she is the only person able to use the card without death as the price. All was well as the cards were passed from one rightful owner to another. Though as time passed and the cards spread, multiple magicians were able to use the cards at the same time without dying, thus having more than one owner."

"But greed, one of man's greatest downfalls, struck once again and each co-owner tried to take the cards from one another. The head of the magical community, Li Reed, son of Clow Reed, created the Rivals' Games, a tournament for those who want to claim the Abyss cards for their own. Some wanted it to protect the world while others wanted it to make their darkest dreams come true. No matter what, the people needed their own decks of cards in order to compete. The winner of that first tournament was Tao Reed, as you would know by now, is Li's brother and Clow's son. Tao was unrighteous and used the cards for his own pleasure until the day came when Li tried to stop him and died in his efforts."

"With that, Clow Reed took the cards from Tao, banished him from his household, and locked away the cards within his own Clow cards. However, Clow Reed had suffered much through this entire ordeal. Not only did one of his sons kill the other, but also Clow was the one who indirectly caused the incident by first creating magic cards. Before he passed on, he had a last son whom he named after his first, Li. But he didn't want there to be a Reed family in the world anymore, for he want afraid of the pains that he might feel if something similar was to happen again. Therefore, he named his son Reed Li, changing the last name. His pain also caused him to choose a card master/mistress outside of his own bloodline."

"This is where you come in Sakura. When you opened the book, the Abyss cards were released and since then many people have been in search of them. I come here to challenge you to a battle and the winner takes that card of yours."

By now Sakura's head was spinning pretty bad. Everything had happened so quickly. She looked at her watch and realized that it was only half an hour earlier when she was getting to the airport to see Syaoran again. Now, 30 minutes later, all this had happened. Sakura tried to think straight and said what she thought was the best reply at the moment. "And if I refuse?"

"Then your friends are going to have to die... think about it Sakura..." Tao said with a icy calm voice and he leaned over to Sakura's left ear as he whispered, "you would be the cause of their death." After that, Tao seemed pretty happy with himself as he laughed in Sakura's face.

"But Meilin and Syaoran are your relatives!" Sakura exclaimed. How can anyone be so cruel as to threaten his or her own niece and nephew in such a way."

"No more talk! Do you accept or would you have me demonstrate what I mean?" Tao seemed to be getting angry. To be truthful, he never really wanted to do anything to Meilin or Syaoran, but he didn't mind hurting the other two brats, especially that blue haired one. That child reminded him so much of Clow Reed.

"Alright, we fight." Sakura answered, hoping that this was the right thing to do.

"Good, we both start with two cards. Only those two cards will be used and no more are to be drawn without special effects of the cards. Your two friends will take shape into the two cards of which you choose and my niece and nephew will be mine as they take shape into my two cards. We go by turns, a card's effect may take effect once every turn and only the cards may attack or defend. You may choose to attack the opponent directly or one of the two active cards. You win once the opponent looses his or her magic energy and thus, the cards are no longer to draw on the participant's energy. Of course, the person that takes shape into a card will take damage as well if he or she is attacked."

"But that's not fair!" Sakura complained. How can anyone expect her to attack Syaoran or Meilin? They were friends and after all that they have been through-

"Life is not fair Sakura. Now I suggest you pick your cards and we will start."

Sakura didn't know what to do, but she chose the two cards that she thought would help her the most. First, Wind would be there since it has never failed Sakura before and the other she chose Shield, just to be safe. "I'm done." Sakura said as she looked sternly at Tao.

"Very well, so have I, now then... I think it is only fair that you get the first turn"

"Alright... Wind!" Sakura shouted as Tomoyo appeared out of nowhere and appeared to be confused. "Sakura, what's going on?" she asked her but then took a look at herself and realized that she was white all over. "Can't explain now Tomoyo, but let's just say you have the power of the wind and I want you to attack Tao." "Alright Sakura." Tomoyo replied as she charged into Tao, knocking him backwards. "Wow," Tomoyo gasped, "I am strong."

"Don't celebrate yet. It's just like an amateur to just use attack cards. Are you done Sakura?" Tao sneered.

Sakura is getting angry, but she knew that it would be useless to attack with a shield, so there wasn't much for her to do until next turn. "It's your turn Tao" Sakura replied but was inwardly afraid of what's about to come.

"Typical, trying to make me guess what's in that unknown card? Well, time for you to see strategy instead of strength. Thief! Arise and take effect." Tao replied as a black Syaoran emerged and soared straight for Sakura's deck of cards, took one, and put it into Tao's hand. "Very nice choice my dear nephew. Now I will use this card of which you so generously gave me. Mirror!" Tao bellowed as the mirror card sprang to life and copied wind. "Lastly, I will use my last card. Betrayal!" he commended while he laughed at what was happening. Meilin materialized and took Sakura's shield card from her. Then, all that Sakura had on her side was Tomoyo (wind) while Tao has Syaoran (Thief), Eriol (Shield), Meilin (Betrayal), and Another Tomoyo (Mirror/Wind). Things were looking real bad for Sakura. "Why are you guys doing this? Fight him you guys!" Sakura shouted towards her friends.

"They can't hear you my dear Sakura, they can only hear and see me and to them, you just look like a person they never saw before. But I think I will end this now! Everyone... Attack!" Tao ordered and all of his active cards started to charge towards her. Little did she know, the most important turn of the battle was about to take place...

WOO! Finished another chapter... hope you guys liked this one at least. Ugh... maybe 2 reviews and I update? Eh... it's really up to you guys... review if you have any respect for me at all... by now... S-S signing' off...


	4. The Rivals' Game and The Lovers' Stone P...

Disclaimer: I sure don't own CCS, besides, who'd believe me if I said I did anyways? If I did own CCS, wouldn't I make my story an actual episode?

A/N: I apologize for the late update, as you all know, school is starting pretty soon and I don't have much of anything ready to go back to school... I will not stop until the story is done, whether or not you people like it... the show must go on...

Black Eye Of The Tao Abyss

Chapter Four:

The Rivals' game and The Lovers' Stone: Part 2

Sakura braced herself as all the cards of Tao's side started to rush towards her. This was the end. Tao would get the card and become one step closer to obtaining the great power of the abyss cards. Oh how she wished that her friends were there for her at least, but to make matters worst, it was like every one of her friends were now turned against her. Sakura couldn't help but blame herself for everything. If she had just been smarter and stronger, she would have won this match, but at least now things were coming to an end...

An earsplitting scream of agony knocked Sakura out of her thoughts. The voice was familiar, but she couldn't believe the sight in front of her. Waves of energy passed through her as though she was a ghost. She knew that she should be hurt right now, but she felt nothing. What's more astounding was that Syaoran was bleeding in all possible places on the opposing side. Then something pink caught her eye. The shine was coming from the amulet that Syaoran gave her. What's more, a similar glow, although green, could been seen from Li's wrist.

"Hmm..." Tao said as he marveled at what just took place. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, Sakura, I never knew that you could be _that _cold hearted." "What do you mean?" Sakura stuttered, still a bit shocked at what just happened. "That amulet your wearing is made from a very magical stone known as the lovers' stone. Only a dozen of these stones are formed every million years, found in white roses from the peak of Mount Everest. Separating it into two halves is the only way to refine the ore. Each half is then crafted into two separated pieces of jewellery. When a compatible pair wears apiece each, the two are bonded, as you may call it. Then, when one person is supposed to get hurt, the other receives the pain instead and the same vice-versa."

This was just too much for Sakura to handle. First of all, there were all the questions that this new piece of information raised. For example, did Li know about the stone's magic? If he did, then does this mean that Li felt something for her? Where did Li get such a precious stone? Then, something that Tao had said before hit her. "What do you mean by me being cold hearted? How is using the lovers' stone make me evil?"

"My oh my, you sure are thick headed aren't you? Well, let me explain, Li knows everything about each and every type of magic and magical items/creatures. Li can identify the lovers' stone a mile away. Though the thing is, I know Li since he was a baby. He is unable to harbor any emotions of romantic love for anyone. He would not wear something that will bond him to another person such as the lovers' stone. Therefore, it is only reasonable that you tricked him into wearing it and thus, you would no longer be harmed. Very clever, I must say. You would make a most delightful villain." Tao's chuckle turned into a monstrous hoot as if all this was hilarious to him.

"That's enough!" A voice bellowed. To Sakura's surprise, it was Li who shouted. He no longer had that dazed expression on his face, as he was now red in the face with anger and pain. Li unsheathed his sword as she continued, "You know the rules according to the rivals' game. When one competitor wears the lovers' stone into battle, the one bonded with him or her is allowed to fight by his or her side." Syaoran was breathing out blood by now. Sakura knew that he wouldn't be able to hold much longer.

"Quite right my nephew, you are allowed to fight by your "friend's" side... though I doubt you would help, your deck consists mainly of battle cards, you would be hopeless. Nonetheless, I will comply." With that, Tao snapped his fingers and Li appeared right beside Sakura. "Li!" Sakura shouted as he appeared by her side, though still coughing up blood. Li put up a hand to silence Sakura and she hesitantly complied.

"I don't have much time Sakura... but I will do what I can. Tao, I have changed my cards since last time, and my deck has matured now. I will show you and all of our family, that I AM WORTHY!" The last part Syaoran shouted and he threw his first card into the air. "Come forth, Loyalty!" A binding white light coursed around every card on the field and each person/card were transferred onto Sakura and Syaoran's side of the battlefield. "The loyalty card allowed all of Sakura's friends and cards to return and support her. You should have known better than to turn friends against one another Tao. Lastly, I will use Unity!" Another flash, though gold this time, materialized and Sakura could feel vast amounts of energy and power coursing throughout her body.

"All our power and spirit is with you Sakura, know that I will be here for you always. Win one for the home team..." and with that, Syaoran breathed out his last mouthful of blood and collapsed to the ground. "Li!" Sakura shouted again as she tried to rush over to him. However, Meilin and Eriol stopped her and reminded her that the battle was not over yet. Sakura only nodded as her bangs covered her eyes. "Tao, you will pay!" she yelled as she commanded everyone to go in for a full-scale assault. By this time, Tao was cowering and was desperate to find a place to hide. Though it was over, that final attack left him unconscious and the darkness faded away...

It was done... Sakura looked around her as she realized that she and her friends were still in the airport. Tomoyo and Meilin drew Sakura together in a group hug, with Eriol chuckling nearby, in celebration to the fact that they had won. It wasn't until a little while after that a crowd gathered near them and they decided to see what everyone else were looking at. There, in the middle of the crowd, was Syaoran, floating in a pool of his own blood...

A/N: There, I think that's all for today, please tell me if you guys want lemons in this fic. A lot of my friends are reading and writing lemon fics (no, we are not perverts) so I need to know from you guys. Please review and put whatever comments on the story as you wish. I don't care about flames; I just want the lemon thing settled. Please review...

Before I go, I would like to thank all the people that did review to my story such as DarkHeart2 and Rebekah. Though I would really appreciate it if you guys would revied signed on instead of anonymously, I don't want people to think I reviewed them meself...

S-S: signing off...


	5. ForgetMeNot

Disclaimer: I own this plot and nothing more

A/N: I apologize for the late update (again), I have no real explanations other than the fact that I had some crappy nights' sleep and I didn't want to write anything while I was as good as drunk. I promise that I will not stop no matter what happens, (unless something like me dying occurs, but by no means, do not try to kill me if you want me to stop writing)

I am dedicating this chapter to: sakura.cherryblossom.kinomoto and Shirahime, the two most recent reviewers, I am grateful for your encouragement and just to let you guys know, you are the reason I'm updating right now instead of like, maybe a week later.

Black Eye Of The Tao Abyss

Chapter Five:

Forget-me-not

It has been three months since the incident at the airport, and ever since then, Syaoran has been in a coma in the Tokyo hospital. Sakura, Eriol, Tomoyo, and Meilin would come by frequently to check on him, to see if he would come back to consciousness any time soon. The hospital doctors were truly bugged with this case. It seemed that even though Syaoran lost an extreme amount of blood, he recovered with what seemed to be super-natural speed. After only a few hours and he was as strong as he ever was. The only problem was that they were not able to detect any brain waves from Syaoran.

Even after extensive surgery and other high-tech medical operations, the doctors pronounced Syaoran as being completely healthy except for the fact that he was still in some sort of a coma.

On one particular afternoon, Sakura went to visit Syaoran with somewhat of a burden on her heart. Just yesterday, she and Eriol had a mutual break up due to the fact that Sakura may actually have feelings for Syaoran instead of Eriol. Eriol, on the other hand acted like a gentleman about it thought he was still a man, and to salvage what was left of his pride, he said something about "keeping Syaoran's girl from other guys when he wasn't here" That wasn't exactly what was bothering her though.

The thing is, that after the break up, Sakura went home for a nap and apparently from what Kero said he saw, the time and dream cards merged and appeared to give Sakura a vision of the future. Though what Kero didn't see, was that at the same time, the Abyss card from her desk also shined and altered the effects of time and dream at that moment.

SAKURA'S VISION

Dead bodies scattered everywhere, and five main piles of these bodies caught her eye. On the top of each pile was someone close to her heart, dead of course. First, there was her father, then Touya, Meilin, Tomoyo, and finally, Eriol. Though Syaoran was not in sight. A noise behind her caused Sakura to turn around.

It was then that she saw the most horrifying sight in her life. There, amongst more dead bodies, was Syaoran, the only person that wasn't dead. He was holding a silver goblet, filling it with blood from his victims, drinking and savoring each and every drop. Syaoran then locked eyes with her, Sakura knew that it couldn't have been Syaoran because the eyes were hollow, no colour or emotion, just blank.

"Why?" Sakura asked, surprised that her voice was working.

"My, my, dear Sakura," the imposter Syaoran began, even his voice seemed to be able to strike and kill someone. "It was because of you that I died, if you were better at handling your cards, then I wouldn't be dead now would I? Look around you, I need blood to survive, and now I feast on your friends, and seeâ€ this is all your fault."

After that, the dead bodies began to rise, going towards her. The smelling of rotting flesh and the sight of exposed bones were making Sakura sick. The dead began to chant "All your fault" over and over again as she began to try and run away. However, Sakura definitely wasn't strong enough or fast enough because soon, she was held right before Syaoran. "Now, let's see what you taste like to me and my friends," Syaoran spat, as he raised his sword

END VISION

It was then that the vision ended and Sakura woke up drenched in a sheet of sweat. She was still thinking about the dream when she realized that she was sitting besides Syaoran's bed. It didn't even occur to her that she had been crying and she didn't have any intentions at the moment to stop. A few tears landed on Syaoran's hand and he began to stir. Though, still everything went unnoticed by Sakura.

"Why are you crying?" Li whispered, after all, he hadn't eaten or drank anything in 3 months.

A yelp form Sakura told Syaoran that she didn't know that he was up yet. "Syaoran!" Sakura yelled as she drew him into a tight hug, "I'm so glad that you're ok." She continued, not noticing the blush coming onto Syaoran's cheeks. 'Maybe I should get into a coma more often if this is the welcome I get when I come back.' Syaoran mused to himself.

After Syaoran and Sakura talked for about 2 hours catching up with everything that was going on, a nurse came by and told Syaoran that he was allowed to leave anytime now. Of course, being himself, Li wanted to prove that he could endure anything and would thus want to go home, but Sakura was insistent on him staying here and resting for at least one last day. With a couple dozens of promises of Sakura returning tomorrow and Syaoran being allowed to leave tomorrow, she left and returned home for the night, remembering to call he friends with the good news.

* * *

Sakura, Meilin, Tomoyo, and Eriol were heading for Tokyo General Hospital when an explosion from their destination told them to hurry up. Upon reaching the tenth floor (Syaoran's floor) of the hospital (much to the displeasure of the police), the gang saw that there was nothing but ashes in what used to be Syaoran's room. "Syaoran!" Sakura screamed as she ran into the room and began to dig in the piles of ashes in his former hospital room. After a few minutes of finding nothing, she collapsed onto the floor and was joined by Meilin and Tomoyo trying to comfort her. It was then that Eriol saw something green near the where the window was and decided to go and check it out.

"Sakura," Eriol began, as he took hold of the object, "I think you would want this." He then kneeled down and showed Sakura what he found. What Sakura saw nearly made her want to break down all over again. It was Syaoran's piece of the Lovers' Stone, the one that matched hers. She noticed that the amulet was no longer glowing in anyway. 'Does this mean that he's... he's...' Sakura started, but unconsciousness took over her body, not allowing her to finish her thought.

* * *

It was raining again. Figures, it always seemed to rain at a funeral. Though the police didn't find Syaoran's body, they pronounced him dead due to the fact that doctors said that that morning, Syaoran's body was weakening at an incredible rate.

The church building was filled from Syaoran's family even to those who were some of his hopeless rivals. Sakura was nowhere to be seen. After the accident at the hospital, she nearly always stayed in her room. Of course, even right now, when it was time for Syaoran's funeral, Sakura stayed in her room with her friends outside her door.

"Sakura!" Tomoyo shouted through the door. "You should at least pay your respects." "But it's my fault!" Sakura wept within her room, "If ...hic only I let him get... hic (hiccups)... get out the night before... hic... this wouldn't have happened!"

Eriol had had about enough of this. He walked to the door and said something that shocked everyone. "Sakura, I know that you can't bring back the dead, no matter how strong your magic might be. But if I was to tell you that there was a way for you to bring Syaoran back for a couple of hours for you two to say goodbye or something, would you GET OUT OF THAT ROOM?"

It was then that they heard the familiar click from within her room, signaling that she unlocked the door. Then, Sakura opened the door to let her friends in. "I'm listening" Sakura said, barely louder than a whisper.

Eriol cleared his throat and began, "As you know, the Rivals' game is being held this year. The winner would be allowed to keep the entire Abyss deck but only if he or she is able to maintain it. Within the full deck, is a card known as "Premature Death", it is as close as a person can get to brining back a person from the dead. The amount of hours the person is allowed to stay in the living world equals the amount years that the person missed during his life. Therefore, if Syaoran was meant to live something like 97 years maximum, and since he is 17 when he died, then he would be allowed 80 more hours of life. Though you must win the tournament for this to happen."

Silence followed Eriol's speech as everyone allowed this to sink in. "So all I have to do is enter the tournament and win" "That's right" Eriol said, " and to make sure that you have a better chance of winning, we can all enter the games together." This snapped Sakura from her dazed thoughts. "But only I have cards-" She began, but was interrupted by Meilin. "After you transformed every clow card to a star card, Eriol got the clow cards back and I learned to create my own cards the same time that Syaoran did. Then, we can teach Tomoyo magic too and we'd all be able to work on bringing back Syaoran."

"Really?" Sakura asked, hope began to shine through her emerald eyes. "Can you teach me?" Eriol and Meilin exchanged glances though in the end it was Eriol who spoke up. "I'm surprised that you haven't made one yet, but all you really need, is to imagine the card, how it looks like, and things like that. But what the card does must be something that you truly want."

Feeling a bit doubtful, Sakura closed her eyes and began to imagine cards that she already had. An image came to her but it was a bit unclear. She decided to ignore Tomoyo's gasp as she felt something in her hand. She then looked into her hands and saw a card that she had never seen before. Though before she could take a good look at it, she fainted.

* * *

Sakura woke up a few hours later and looked around her room, her friends were still there and had relieved looks pasted on their faces. "What happened?" Sakura asked. "Don't worry, everything's fine," Tomoyo cooed to her friend. "I should have told you that creating a card takes 75 of a person's energy," Eriol commented, running his hand through his hair nervously.

"I want to see my Card." Sakura stated stretching out her hand. Meilin went over to Sakura's desk and handed over a familiar pink card. The picture was a woman holding a necklace of forget-me-nots within her hands with a single tear sitting on her right cheek. She was sitting in a similar fashion as "time" and was wearing a white Victorian style dress with a black background and a beige moon.

Under the picture were the words "The Memory". "That was what I wanted." Sakura whispered to herself. "What?" Tomoyo asked, "What did you want?" "To forget, to forget about all that ever happened in these last few months." Sakura replied. It was then that the memory card glowed along with another card from the rest of Sakura's deck. She soon realized that the other card was "Mirror" and with a white flash, a ghostly Syaoran appeared before them. "Go a head and forget Sakura, you're weaker then when I first saw you." He said with disgust in his voice. Then the image was gone and everything was back to normal.

"Sakura," Tomoyo began but was silenced by her friend. "He's right, I can't be weak now, I have to remember and build on my losses." Sakura said. "And we'll be right here behind you Sakura." Eriol said, Meilin and Tomoyo nodding in agreement. 'I knew you would make me proud Sakura, after all, your determination is just one of the reasons I fell for you' a disembodied voice said. Sakura heard this and was sure that Syaoran was right next to her. However, it appeared that no one else heard this so Sakura decided to not share this with the others just yet.

* * *

A/N: Whew, I'm done! I'm so proud. Please don't stop read this fic because Syaoran appeared to have died (WINK WINK) please have patience you won't regret it. That's all for this time, please tell me if you guys want lemons in this fic. I still want the vote settled. Thanks to you guys for reading this and I'll post the next chapter as soon as I update my other stories too. Please review and tell me what you guys think about this story.

S-S signing off


	6. As Ready As Can Be

Disclaimer: I don't own much of anything, much less CCS

A/N: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, (intake of breath) Like I said, I'm sorry. Teachers at my school really know how to screw over a guy when it comes to homework. I hope it is compensation if I uploaded 3 chapters at once. I know it is too late for Christmas but if you guys want I can post up a new years chapter special. I know I can put them all into one chapter, but I don't know. I just feel like it I guess. Also please note that I changed my screen name from solar-storm247 to unshed-tears247. Lastly, I want to reply to my newer reviews just before I forget. I tend to do that at times.

To: FreedomGundam and sakura.cherryblossom.kinomoto: thank you for your reviews and I hope you guys would like these chapters.

(Also note rating went up and a chance for lemons)

* * *

Black Eye Of The Tao Abyss

Chapter Six:

As Ready As Can Be

* * *

Hours turned to days, days into weeks, weeks into months, months into years. Ok, maybe that was exaggerating this just a _little_ bit. But it did last at least for a month. It seemed like much longer though, to Sakura. Ever since Sakura heard about "Premature Death", she worked non-stop to strengthen her magic. Her friends were with her all the way though. She wasn't really surprised. Though Sakura was certain that none of the others felt as strongly towards Syaoran as she did, Syaoran was still a good and close friend to them.

_Was_. Sakura didn't like that word one bit. It only reminded her constantly that Syaoran was gone. But like she had said, she was going to be strong for her friends, her family, Syaoran, and most importantly, herself. It wouldn't help at all if she were weeping like a madwoman.

Though only in this short period of time, many things have happened. First, the happiest news that Sakura received was when Tomoyo had told her that she and Eriol were going to start to date. Truth be told, Sakura still remembered when she dated Eriol herself, but she wasn't jealous at all. She could only say that she was happy for her friends. While it is true that Eriol had been a great friend and an even better boyfriend, Sakura never realized how much she cared about Syaoran until recently, when he was gone.

But you know what? Sakura has a secret. Deep down in her heart, she knew that Syaoran was alive, somewhere. She was told that when loved ones pass on, the person that is left behind normally have a pang of pain and sometimes guilt. But after all that has happened, she mourned and wept relatively less than she had expected. Not that her feelings for Syaoran weren't real, but that she just missed him, and he was missing. Definitely not that he was _dead_.

Sakura know for a fact that she was not in denial. Sometimes she would wake up in the night and look beside her. There, on top of her night table, was Syaoran's piece of the lover's stone. It would glitter here and there, raising Sakura's hopes each time it did. Though back on topic now, this month had done wonders to Sakura and her friends.

Firstly, Meilin had shown everyone else her special deck of _Rose Cards_. Not surprisingly, they consisted mostly around the strategy of a strong and firm offence. There were cards such as _Fight, Berserk, Defense, Offence, and Gorilla Attack_, which all basically meant physical combat. This type of cards, Sakura knew, drew more on the physical strength of the owner as opposed to magical power. It wasn't exactly a secret that out of them, Meilin was the weakest in magic (not including Tomoyo since she never really did any magic at all so it couldn't count) but could whip any one of them in hand to hand combat (maybe except for Syaoran). Meilin wasn't stupid though, as she did have cards that focused more on magic and they, of course, backed up the physical cards. These cards were mainly weapons and power ups such as _Blade, Poison, Flame, Bow and Arrow, _etc.

Next, the three of them (Sakura, Eriol and Meilin), managed to help Tomoyo create a deck of her own. Sakura joked around in the beginning by saying that they might come out as something like _Camera Cards _or _Costume Cards _but in the end she wasn't surprised to see Lilies on the backs of Tomoyo's cards. Her deck was a basic one, to say the least. Many of them were cards that required little energy but when used in the correct way, would do an expert proud. These were ones like _Jump, Speed, Spark, Ember, Rain, _etc. By the end of each day, Tomoyo would appear more tired than a 500 year old but nevertheless, she always wore a smile, knowing that she wasn't left out any more.

Tomoyo didn't just spend time on her cards though. She still somehow had the time and energy (much to Sakura's dismay) to create more costumes for Sakura. And Sakura, being the kind friend that she is, complied only to help Tomoyo relax her from the stress of her recent magical "developments".

Sakura and Eriol didn't just teach and train the others of course; they improved their own decks and their magical power energy at least doubled (or in Sakura's case, tripled). After the confrontation with Tao, Sakura knew that she had to play smart, and thus created three new powerful cards for her on coming challenge. She would be creating more of course, but right now she would be quite content by just having _Friendship, Mercy, and Freedom_ (kind of got that from FreedomGundam's pen name which, if I'm correct, is from Gundam Seed). Of course, Sakura also still had _Memory_. When she showed her friends her new creations, all they did was nod, and say something like "that's just so like you to do that" and in Meilin's case, smirk.

Eriol, having an almost exact deck as Sakura (since the star cards originated from the Clow cards), he wanted to make his deck different from their friends, in hope that they would have a better chance of winning this way. He studied the way Tao fought and was rather impressed. Even though he couldn't bring himself to control the cards of his opponent (no matter who he or she is), he was still fond of the strategy of "Manipulation". With this thought in mind, he created ten new cards and removed ones that he thought were no longer needed. His new inventions were cards like _Destiny, Redirection, Second Thought, Doubt, Blindfold, _etc.

* * *

A couple more weeks passed and they still kept at it, increasing their physical strength, speed, endurance, magical power, and anything else that they could think of while creating new cards, making new costumes for Sakura (Tomoyo), homework (summer ones, I think they get them), and so forth.

The day came when Sakura realized that she had no idea about what the Rivals' Game was. Sure she knew the backgrounds of the entire thing and the prizes and stuff, but when was it going to start? What kind of things do they have to compete in? Who would be in these games? What are the rules? These questions ran around in Sakura's head along with other questions that follow this line of thought.

It was in the morning, so she decided to get ready first so then she could ask Eriol about the tournament when they met. It seemed like the more logical thing to do. It's not exactly the best idea for her to call Eriol at such an early time in the morning now is it? Come to think of it, when did Sakura Kinomoto _ever_ wake up at 6 in the morning?

Sakura sighed as she dropped back down onto her bed and tried to get some sleep. Sakura turned, twisted, and tried various positions to get comfortable, but still couldn't get any sleep. "I didn't know you were a light sleeper Sakura," a familiar voice said, "come to think of it, why are you awake at this time in the morning?"

Sakura opened her eyes in shock and glanced around her room. She couldn't see anyone, but she could have sworn she heard a voice. It sounded… so much… like Syaoran… Sakura thought, as she tried to fight back a wave of tears. "Hey, hey, sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry…" the same voice said. Sakura glanced around again, still not seeing anything. "Oh! I get it, you're trying to see me, well for starters you can put your night table right underneath your window…"

Sakura agreed without any hesitation. She was a bit spooked by this. After all, who was to say this wasn't another one of Tao's tricks? As she moved her nightstand underneath her bedroom window, a pale greenish light appeared. When Sakura opened her eyes again, she stood in shock and stared at what was in front of her. There he was, Syaoran, the boy… no, the man who had disappeared with her heart.

Sakura couldn't believe it; Syaoran couldn't be back, could he? She gently caressed Syaoran's cheek with her right hand and felt his shiver at the contact, come to think of it, she shivered too. "I'm not really here you know" he said. Seeing Sakura's eyes drop with grief caused a pang of pain in his heart.

Before he knew it, Sakura had him in a bone-crushing hug and sobbing mercilessly. Syaoran ran his hands up and down her back, trying to soother her and muttered words that said everything would turn out all right and that he was sorry that this happened. It took a while, but Sakura did manage to calm down after about 20 minutes, and even then, she looked to be on the verge of tears again. It's kind of ironic that people cry when they first meet opposed to when they are not together.

"Syaoran, what happened?" Sakura asked, barely about a whisper. "I can't tell you that Saku, in a way, I'm not allowed." Syaoran spoke, in a voice so soft that Sakura thought it wasn't even Syaoran talking. "Then why are you here?" Sakura asked, more confused now than she ever was in her entire life. "Look on your night stand Sakura," Syaoran said, gesturing to the said furniture.

Sakura looked as saw Syaoran's piece of the Lovers' Stone shining brightly. When he saw the confusion in Sakura's eyes, he sighed and decided to explain. "Sakura, when I gave the you piece of the Lovers' Stone, I obligated myself to you. (Syaoran's blushing and watching his feet with interest while talking) Since I knew what the stones did when I gave it to you, I permanently gave a part of my heart and soul to you, bound by love. Yea, that's right, I love you Sakura Kinomoto (face going redder…redder…)."

Sakura didn't have time to recover from the shock and let everything sink in before Syaoran continued. "Every day at dawn, when the golden light of the sun pierced through my piece of the jewel when I am not with you and if somehow my piece of the stone ended up with you, a somewhat projectile of me materializes and that's what I am as of the moment. (Gesturing to himself) I couldn't talk or move though, as it is difficult to fight this bond that wouldn't allow me to speak or act. Therefore I couldn't wake you up or anything like that."

Finally finding her voice, Sakura asked, "Why can you talk now?" Syaoran, still staring at his feet, looked up, but still adverted his eyes from meeting hers and pointed to where Sakura's deck sat. "In there, if I am right, your card _Freedom_ gave me the freedom of speech and action, sort to speak. It seems your cards can act on their own."

Then Syaoran surprised Sakura by looking straight into her eyes, piercing though what seemed to be like her soul. "I am the real Syaoran though, kind of like a Proxy, I know where I am at this moment, what I'm doing and so forth, but I am not allowed to say thing like that, it's kind of like a law using the Lovers' Stone. (Face turns grave, sad and hurt) But I want you to understand though, when you accepted you piece, you didn't know what it was, so you are in no way obligated to me. You are free to do whatever you want, and no part of you belongs to me, don't worry. You are… are free to love whomever you want (cringing at the thought). But I just want you to know how I felt (tears forming in both their eyes)."

Sakura could stand it no longer; she wrapped her arms around Syaoran again and cried once more, this time of relief and joy. Syaoran, surprised, tried to comfort her as he did before. Sakura then stopped and looked into Syaoran's deep, brown, chocolate eyes and leaned in forward for a kiss. Their lips touched for a second, shrills of excitement going down both their spines, but then Syaoran began to fade. He waved his hand in good-bye and said, "I guess I'll see you next dawn…" more as a question than a statement.

Sakura nodded before she realized and yelled, "I accept!" hoping that Syaoran would be able to hear her. He looked confused for a second before understanding as a genuine smile graced his lips and tears of joy weld up inside his eyes again. Syaoran disappeared just before Touya knocked at Sakura's door and said, "Your friends are waiting for you outside!" before leaving to his own room.

Sakura met her friends outside, having completely forgotten about her previous questions. "We're leaving today," Eriol said, getting Sakura's attention. "What about packing and all that?" Meilin asked but was silenced by Eriol lifting a hand. "The council would provide every one of the participants with what they need and will inform our parents and loved ones about our disappearances. I'm sorry for the short notice but that's the way the tournament is held, everything is told last minute to see how you react."

The four friends held each other's hands as Eriol held up a pure white, blank card and the scene around them began to dissolve into darkness. 'Am I ready?' Sakura asked herself, she smiled slightly and unconsciously put one of her hands to her lips. 'As ready as I can be I guess, Syaoran would probably be there' she answered herself. Looking at the two pieces of the Lovers' Stone that she now had on her palm. Yes, she definitely was as ready as can be…

* * *

There! I'm done the first of the three chapter updates, I'll get to work on the next ones tomorrow as it's 12:30 CHRISTMAS!!! Right now. Hope you guys like this one and I'm going to go to bed now, Happy Christmas you guys! :o) 


	7. Asura The Forgotten

Disclaimer: I don't own CCS… now you guys happy?

A/N: This is just a short authors note so don't worry too much. I kind of just woke up in a sense so I hope this chapter goes well. Anyways, hope you guys review and tell me what you think about the second of the three chapters update.

**Warning: This chapter contains semi-dark content (not lemons)**

* * *

Black Eye Of The Tao Abyss

Chapter Seven:

Asura The Forgotten

* * *

Footsteps echoed throughout the hallway. It was disgusting him to no end. True, this was one of the greatest magical shrines there was and the training could make the weakest mortal into something that can even slay one of the dragons of Agus Of Blood. There was no denying it; his training here in this shrine increased his powers more than ten times their original. But there were also… moral issues concerning the institute. Every night there would be, what the master called "_The Release" _or sometimes _"The Relief"_. It was the sickest thing he ever heard off. Many of his comrades, as this was an all-male academy, participated in this act of raping mortal women that they have brought in from the mortal realm.

Many of those that participated were under great stress, he knew, as he went through all the training that this school offered. But that was no reason to harm other human beings. They were mortals too in reality, just that they had magic. What disgusted him even more was that he thought of members of the opposite gender as delicate and elegant beings. By no means were women weak, but he always felt men were put on earth to protect women, not ruin and defile them. Thus he never participated in the act himself, he still felt guilty, as he did nothing to stop the others. The master would punish him severely were he to stop the others' "Time Of Relaxation".

Wham! He punched the wall. He knew for a fact that he was stronger than his master, but he always submitted to those who are elder and gave them respect. This time should be no different. Sometimes he hated his morality as he wished only to pleasure himself with blood, women, and much, much more. The temptation was… tempting, but he stuck to what he believed and he was proud of himself. Every morning after _"The Relief"_, he would go to the women, still shaking and tried to comfort them. He gave them vast amounts of gold, but wealth was no compensation for something as precious as one's virginity.

Years went by as this went on, and he had endured many harsh training strategies, some that other students didn't even know about. Thinking about this, he reached his hand towards his face, or what was revealed anyways. Since… forever, he had been wearing that strange mask. The mask that hid all of the top of his face and the entire left side too, revealing the lower, right hand quarter portion of his face to be seen. He didn't even know what he looked like, but it doesn't matter, he had decided, one did not need to get full of himself based on his looks.

"Asura!" Someone cried out behind him, taking him back to reality. A boy with pure white hair and green eyes stood before him. The kid was only 6 for crying out loud! Yet he was here and one of the best students in this entire compound. "What is it Kuro?" He asked, without any emotion in his voice. But the child knew him better than that; "Master wants to see you in the main hall room DAF-198." Asura arched an eyebrow, not that Kuro could see it through his mask. "That's the fusion chamber room, correct?" Kuro nodded, "I don't think he wants to fuse with you though," he started, reading Asura's thoughts. "A lot of kids from the other shrines come too, apparently for a meeting before something big. Maybe you are to choose your mate now?"

_Mate_. That was another thing that bothered him. Instead of all the wonderful aspects of falling in love, getting your first kiss, and all that, his master wanted his pupils to just basically screw a powerful female counter part to bring out a child to a world without love or caring or anything else that a babe would need, in order for the child to be "Perfect" in all aspects of power and be under his control for his plan of the usual "World Domination".

As you can see, his Master was just a senile old bastard. But beside the point, Asura still gave him the respect that he _deserves_ for being older. Asura scowled and a growling noise occurred in the back of his throat. Without further work to Kuro, he disappeared into the shadows and arrived to where he was required.

While he was traveling through the dark, he suddenly whited out for a while (kind of like blacking out, but instead, you see white) but only for less than a tenth of a second. Then he heard someone whisper something like "I accept" to him and he couldn't help but smile. That was weird; he never remembered his face in this position before, other than his usual smirks. Upon arriving outside the door of the room that he was required in, he decided to change his smile into a smirk as he couldn't help but twist the tip of his mouth upwards.

He entered the room and bowed without first looking to see what was going on. "You call sire?" he asked, no longer wanting to smile or smirk. "My dear child Asura, get up, get up, we have much to talk about…" replied his master. This reply told Asura 3 things. First, there were other people in the room, for his master was never that friendly except to put on shows for other. Second, this was something serious and the old man needed his help as he only called one his _Child_ when he needed him to do a task, often involving dangerous quests that could get you killed. Lastly, this conversation would drag well off into the night as normally when "…we have much to talk about…" is there; students often missed a day's (or rather, night's) sleep.

He looked around the room; there were about 50 people here, not including him and his master. 25 masters of the 25 other shrines (there were no female institute representatives here) were there along with a student for each one of them. The special thing was that each student looked identical to him with his body structure, mask, clothing, _everything_! The fusion star was being prepared to use as it glowed with a silverish light. The star was a twenty-six pointed star tonight. There was only one thing that all this could be meant; he was to fuse with the other twenty-five to become some kind of tool within the masters' grasp. It didn't matter, what they said was what he obeyed; they were elders, after all.

"Asura, meet Asura of the Red Blade, Asura of the Blue Star, Asura of the White Shield…" his master began, addressing to each of the other students. Asura (the original) knew what was going on, he was part of a splinter cell program. It meant that the original Asura was split into 26 parts to train at each of the shrines that he could participate in (of course, meaning no admittance into the girls ones). Now that he completed his training, he was to fuse back with his other selves to become a great sorcerer.

Things went in a blur as he found himself holding hands with his other selves as the masters chanted and he realized that they were standing on the Fusion Star. He began to feel pain beyond imagination as he felt his body become broken into dust and other small pieces but he had something comforting him. That beautiful voice, the one who accepted him for who he was, played again over and over in his head. He didn't know who said it or what was going on, but his other parts agreed with him as they became connected, and felt at ease dreaming about beautiful emerald eyes…

* * *

Sakura opened her eyes to be seated in a beautifully decorated coliseum. She looked beside her and was relieved to find that her friends were seated around her. Eriol and Tomoyo were seated to her left, and Meilin to her right. "What's going on?" she asked Eriol but all he did was shush her and point to the center of the coliseum, which, Sakura guessed, was supposed to be the stage.

A sudden lightning bolt sounded and she heard a collective gasp around her. There before the others, were a group of about 100 men wearing black vests, leather pants, sunglasses, and red capes with microphones on their ears. One man was dressed similarly, but with silver outlining on his out fit.

"Welcome one and all, young and old, men and women, boys and girls. I am the master of ceremonies for this year's opening of THE REVALS' GAMES!" He shouted with much enthusiasm and whops, claps, whistles, etc followed this. "This year's competition would be different than the others, if I am correct, the last time this was held was 10 years ago, the new rules would be told to you later on as we have a special treat for you. Please welcome, last year's champion as he is about to make his speech!"

A great gust of wind picked up and soon another man dressed in gold appeared before them all. The man was old, she knew that much, but she could just feel the magical energy waves pulsing from his presence. Another figure cloaked with black stood behind him. "I am humbled to see all of you here, but I am not what I used to be so I will retire and not participate in this competition (people start to whisper and some gasped as he said this). But my apprentice here would take my place. While everyone else would enter the competition in pairs, my apprentice would enter by himself, as is required of the returning champion or whoever replaces him or her."

By this time a lot of voices carried out through the whole place as people began to argue with the old man with somewhat of a passion. The man held up his hand and in an instant everyone became quiet. "To prove to everyone here that my decision is sound and carefully thought out, there will be an exhibition match between my apprentice and the three chairmen of the three Realms."

Another collective gasp followed by chattering. "What's this all about?" Sakura asked Eriol but before he could answer, the ground shook and three new figures appeared on the stage. "We accept," said the one in the middle, wearing red robes. The other two nodded their heads. The three were wearing robes of the primary colours and their energy together made Sakura's head spin. "To make things more interesting, my apprentice would use only one card from his collection, an Abyss Card, if you will, (more muttering amongst the crowd)" The three chairmen laughed heartily at this and nodded their heads. "If you think the boy can beat us, let along use that card, then go ahead, let us begin, this should be quite amusing." The one on the left spoke, wearing the blue robes.

They were about to begin when the one in the yellow robe spoke. "Before we start, show us who you are and tell us your name." He said, pointing a finger at the cloaked figure. As the apprentice looked up, Sakura's mouth went wide as she saw those oh so familiar brown eyes… "Asura, sir, Asura, the forgotten…"

* * *

Whoo! I'm whipped, I'm going to take a break and have a kit-kat and come back in like 15 minutes, c-ya guys, tell me what you think. 


	8. Beyond Expectations

Disclaimer: For the last time I don't own CCS!

A/N: I hoped you guys liked the last chapter, I'm coming back to write after only 5 minutes! I'm so proud. Oh! Would anyone be interested in helping me edit my stories, please tell me if you're interested through e-mail or review.

* * *

Warning: Blood and Gore

Black Eye Of The Tao Abyss

Chapter Eight:

Beyond Expectations

* * *

The chairman in the yellow robes was rather surprised by the response. "You speak like one from the realm of the Faery, the land of magical creatures. Tell me, are you half?" Asura showed no emotion, though it was quite easy due to his mask, "Sir, I suggest we get to business then I would be happy to answer any and all of your inquiries." The chairman nodded and the one in red nodded his approval "I like you boy, go straight to the point, maybe we'll go easy on you." He said with a laugh. "I suggest not to underestimate your enemies sir," Asura replied monotonously, as they broke off and began.

The Three chairmen began to chant and three portals appeared in front of them. From the portal of the red robe chairman, a dragon emerged. The beast had five heads of blue, brown, white, red, and yellow, each representing an element of Earth, wind, water, fire or thunder. It had four magnificent arms and claws that were made up of giant blades. It had two wings as black as the midnight sky and a tail that was long enough to wrap the entire coliseum twice. All of its eyes were white and each head had a special feature. The brown one had one magnificent horn growing in its forehead, the blue had aqua fins on its neck, the yellow had what appeared to be a lion's main made out of electric sparks, the white had a second giant mouth right below the first one (the bottom of the first mouth was the top of the second one), and finally, the red one had three horns made of fire.

Out of the portal of the blue fighter, emerged a giant golem. It had six harms, each with a different weapon (scimitar, spear, mace, crossbow, sword, and war hammer). Its entire body was silver and its head was wearing one of the helmets that knights used to wear, covering its entire head except for one ruby eye. Its two strong and sturdy legs seemed like it would withstand anything and it was wearing a cape of gold.

The last portal produced another great creature. It looked to be human, a man with long blond hair, but one look at its cold blue eyes told you otherwise. It was wearing nothing at the top and split colour pants. Half of it was white while the other half was black. It also had two wings, one appeared that of a dove, like the angels that people though about in the past. The other was like that of a bat. It was beautiful in its own way, as it appeared to be as smooth as silk. On the left, black side, its hand had become claws that could rival that of the dragons. Its left foot was clothed in a black steel-toed boot, seeming eager to land a kick. The right side seemed gentler, but it was still dangerous. Its hand and foot were like those of a human, and were clothed in a white steel-toed boot and a leather glove. Within its hand, it held a whip, apparently to be made of light.

* * *

"Bloody hell!" Eriol yelled, as followed others in the stands. "What's wrong?" Sakura asked, hoping nothing was too bad. "Sakura," Eriol began, "those are the imperial guards of the world, and they represent the power of Earth itself. The Dragon is named Torntaka, meaning "immortal". It has the powers of the 5 elements, which I'm sure you can work out. The golem is called Grigore meaning "undefeatable", called to be the general in charge of all that is strong, wielding the physical power of the world, not to mention technology. While it looks to be using crude weapons, they are more advanced than you can believe. Lastly, the winged being is called Zent, meaning, "balance". He holds in his left hand the wrath of darkness and in his right, the Holy powers of light. Asura has to face all of them at once along with the Chairmen, and can only use one card!"

Sakura began to see how difficult this was now, how could anyone stand up to those? She can't help but feel worried. True she didn't know this Asura, but she felt his confusion and pain when he first arrived, like something tugging at him. She prayed that he would be fine, but then began to feel guilty for not think more about Syaoran.

* * *

Back to the fight:

Asura look at his enemies without any emotion. He wasn't scared. He knew that he could beat them if he concentrated enough. Besides, somehow he was calm. Normally, Asura would be nervous when it came to stuff like this, but something or someone in this place was calling out to his heart, calming him down. He allowed a smile to grace his lips for a split second before he shed his cloak.

Another gasp ran throughout the crowd, it was getting on his nerves now. He looked down at himself, he was wearing his apprentice uniform, a black Gi (is that what those karate uniforms from DBZ are called?) with a red blood belt, the highest honour for a person under training to get. He also had blazingly white wings coming out of his back, 'maybe that's what they were gasping about?' he thought before shrugging it off.

He was no longer human in his own mind. He trained with every creature and animal alive and learned all there was to know about combat he needed (and his masters of course). He closed his eyes for a second, shutting every emotion, beckoning his instincts to come forward, releasing his inner beast. He was tuned to everything around his. He can hear every atomic movement around him, feel every grain of sand under his feet, smelled every possible scent in the arena. A special scent of the fresh spring breeze with hinted strawberries hit his nose and he began to indulge in the smell. But he snapped himself awake quickly remembering that this fight was more important.

"You first, I insist," he said to the council, amused to see their surprised faces at his calm demeanor. In another split second, everyone attacked. The dragon, Torntaka, fired 5 beams of the elements along with blood blades from its wings and claws. Grigore slammed all its weapons into the ground, forming a chain of sharp steel mountains heading towards Asura, while shooting white blasts with its cross bow. Zent fired two-barrel beams of white and black lights and shot feather-missiles with its holy wing. The three chairmen began to use their first cards as the powers of the beasts increased along with new card creatures for them to use. (Each card is actually a creature that in imbedded into the card). Everyone watched as more and more attacks were shot and hit where Asura was.

When they stopped, a huge explosion occurred and the smoke began to clear up. But this didn't happen before the ground shook and a giant beam of lava erupted upwards. The three were obviously pleased but their smiles faded when a figure appeared out of the lava. There, smirking (from what they could see) was Asura. There wasn't a single scratch on him except for his top being burned off. After an intake of power (which everyone could feel), he took one card from the deck that he just summoned. It was a black Abyss card. "Fury!" he cried as everyone watched astounded as a giant, blood red, lion leaped out and charged into Asura.

Everyone waited and saw a red flame that surrounded him. Asura growled and leapt to attack. Before anyone could realize it, all the card creatures were torn to shreds along with the decks of the three chairmen. Asura wasted no time and pierced his hand through Torntaka's left leg and drank the blood that was on his hand. This caused the red flames to turn black and his eyes white.

The opposition, realizing what had happened, tried to attack him, in whatever way possible. Asura dodged everything with ease until he got bored and decided to fight back. "Dragon's Fury!" He cried as two traditional dragon blades (description in later chapters) found his hand. Asura spun I around clockwise and what appeared to be a tornado appeared and torn the three beasts to pieces. The pieces were about to regenerate into the creatures that they were, but Asura concentrated his energy and the lava that was still pouring out formed into a phoenix and swallowed all the pieces, dissolving them into ashes that no longer held any life.

The three chairmen were red in the face with anger, no way were they going to be out done by a _kid_! They formed a triangle and a tri-coloured blast hit Asura dead center. They grinned as they thought it was over before the black flames turned into icy blue ones and suddenly he held 3 swords at the necks of each Chairman. "Surrender, it's finished," Asura said in his usual monotone, surprising the three. They complied before Asura separated from Fury. Then Asura held up another card and mutter something before releasing another card all "Regenerate". Soon, all the damage that was done was undone and all the beasts and cards returned without a scratch.

It was done… The three beasts smiled (if that was possible) at him and nodded their heads in defeat, as did the three chairmen. "You have shown great honour, strength, and control as we fought. We have no regrets loosing to you… Asura, you have earned the title: The Champion. (Followed by cheers and applause) As a reward, each of us will give you a card to aid you," the red robed man said, handing Asura 6 cards and another hand for a handshake. "By the way, we are called Tashinku (pointing at the man in yellow), Leroy (the man in blue), and I am called Gormez."

Then Asura's master appeared and smiled at him (not the same master from the shrine, the old champion one), giving him a handshake. Behind him, he saw that the master of ceremonies had began to talk again. Good, everything was going fine so far…

* * *

"Shit!" Eriol said. His friends and girlfriend, whom never seen him swear before, looked at him in shock. "You guys have no idea what that guy did, I mean-" he was cut off ad the master of ceremonies began to speak. "And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. The apprentice Asura has been qualified with flying colours! Please come back tomorrow for the continuation of the ceremony as the exhibition match was unscheduled. Do not worry; accommodations have been prepared for you all, please wait while you are going to be transported into the main hall. Please check at the front desk for your respective rooms, living accommodations and such. See you all in the morning!" With that, the man left.

As Sakura felt the similar sensation of transporting, she thought back to those brown eyes… it was defiantly a possibility that it was Syaoran behind that mask. When she landed next to her friends in an even more beautifully decorated room, she caught a glimpse at the competition. There were mainly two age groups in here, a relatively young group (around their age) and a very old group (excuse the manners, of course). Sakura then felt her pocket stir as something green jumped out. Sakura realized that it was Syaoran's piece of the Lovers' Stone and ran after it, getting many stares on the way. She ignored all her friends' shouts and the other people's glares as she chased. There was no way she was going to loose the only bit of Syaoran that she had left with her.

She ran blindly until she bumped into someone hard and firm. Before she could fall to the ground, the person pulled her so that she would stand up right. Though Sakura lost her balance again and fell onto the person. She opened her eyes to see…

* * *

I'm done! Woo Hoo! Yea! I hope you guys enjoyed these chapters. As I said before I might want an editor, anyone interested? Please review and tell me what you guys think. Also, do you guys want lemons? Cause I might give it a shot. Review plz and tell me what you guys think about the story so far. Is it worth continuing?

U-T signing off…


	9. In Love With A Four Year Old?

Disclaimer: I don't own CCS or anything else in this story that relates to the series, but I have cookies!

A/N: I know, I know, I procrastinated again, but between my rekindled passion for online rpgs and school summatives at the end of the semester, I barely have enough time to sleep and eat… I'll try to remember to do the review responses at the end of the next chapter (I'm updating two chapters at once to make amends) but if I don't, don't think of it as me ignoring you guys. Actually I wanted to update this one first because of all the new reviews I got but the temptation of watching Dude Where's My Car proved too much for me yesterday, without further waiting, we will continue…

Black Eye Of The Tao Abyss

Chapter Nine:

In Love With A Four Year Old?

Sakura quickly jumped up from the person below her to see a familiar masked face staring at her. It took a mere second, but Asura abruptly but somehow gracefully stood up and offered what seemed to be a curious look before wiping out any emotion from his eyes. (It wasn't going to by Asura who bumped into her, but I guess it's better than what I thought of before… even though it's a bit over done.) "You should be careful about where you go, especially in times like these." He said about to turn away and leave a flushed Sakura.

Before he did though, what appeared to be a fastball of brown hair bumped into Asura's legs and caused him to look down. "Su-Su!" it exclaimed. Sakura bent down and realized it was a little boy with surprisingly similar features to Syaoran, just more like… a chibi version. He clung onto Asura's pants before turning to look at Sakura. "Who pretty lady?" he asked, seeming unable to say a full sentence and looking back up at the older man. Asura looked at Sakura, asking her silently to introduce herself.

Sakura, flustered at being so openly called a "pretty lady" and the intensity of Asura's eyes gazing at her, stammered and muttered a soft "Sakura". Noticing that the little boy did not seem to hear her, she knelt down eye level to him and said, "My name is Sakura, what's your name?" "Sa-ku-ra?" the little Syaoran asked before answering her question. "My name is Taroh." Saying the last word in a singsong voice before trying to say her name again. "Sa-… Sa… Sa-Sa!" He cried out delightfully seemingly giving up trying to pronounce Sakura's full name.

She couldn't help but giggle at Taroh's antics before voicing her newest thought. "Is that why you call Asura Su-Su?" failing to hide the amusement in her voice. She noticed Asura looking at her, wondering what she was getting at. "Yup!" the little boy answered. "I have all sorts of other names for my brother too, wanna hear some?" _So he's Asura's brother. _She though, before agreeing. "I call him Su-Su, Ra-Ra (Sakura can just guess what's coming up next) and my favorite ASS-"

"That's quite enough." The commanding voice of Asura said, as serious as ever. Sakura wasn't fooled though, it was obvious that he was very fond of his younger brother and this amused him more than anything else. Through another fit of giggles, Taroh stuck out his tongue at his older brother. Sighing, Asura put his hands into the breast pocket of his uniform and gave Taroh what seemed to be bubblegum.

The little boy squealed with delight and took the candy into his mouth without hesitating. After a few content chews of the gum, Taroh appeared to try and say something but couldn't open his mouth and a look of childish anger appeared on his face. "Oh shush, you know you like it." Asura said once more turning to walk away. "What did you do to him?" Sakura asked, she didn't like seeing small children uncomfortable. "It's an extra sticky gum that keeps his mouth shut, my personal invention, loaded with sugar to keep him content. Now I bid you goodbye and good luck on the tournament Ms. Sakura." With that, Asura left with Taroh trailing after him waving Sakura goodbye.

Taking a deep breath, Sakura finally remembered the reason she was running in the first place. She looked around for the green stone but couldn't find it anywhere. Fighting back a great rush of despair, she tried to use her own piece to detect Syaoran's stone. It appeared to lead her back the way she came from and she was met with her friends who were looking into the center of a crowd. "What's going on?" She asked, keeping her cool. Meilin remained strangely silent as she slouched off towards to a group of girls who Sakura recognized as Syaoran's sisters. Tomoyo and Eriol heard her though and explained the situation…

SCENE CHANGE

"You think you're hot stuff taking down the imperials, but I know you're just a faker, I bet you're weaker than that kid behind you." A tall, green haired boy retorted, pointing at the cowering form of Taroh. "If you're so great, then beat me, right now. Let's see how you fair against a real magician."

Asura raised an eyebrow behind his mask at the ignorance of this kid. While around the same age, he could tell that this kid, Zanki, was really immature for his age.

"Step aside, I have matters to attend to, you have no idea what you're asking for. You don't know anything about me and I know everything about you, so I suggest you leave. This is your final warning, and leave my brother out of this."

"All talk! That's what you are. Come on, if you're so great and all-knowing, then tell me all about me." Zanki snapped, radiating with confidence. He wasn't really ready for the response though as the apprentice began to tell him and the audience all about Zanki Goreus. "Your name is Zanki Goreus. You are age 16, birthday June 6th. You are an expert level Rune Craft user, advanced level shaman, and master level necromancer. You deck is built for endurance over long periods of time. You usually start with 'Undead Call' to summon an undead warrior each turn followed by 'Soul Unity' to place a soul into an undead each turn while the same action increases your magic level. The normal last card for your combo is 'Rune Armory' sacrificing one undead warrior with a soul to equip another into full runite armor and weapons, all the while these sacrifices continue to heal and empower you. Shall I continue?"

Everyone looked at the green haired boy to see his face red with anger. "You cheat! Stop the talk and let's see you actually beat me!" Seeing Asura accept the challenge, he calmed a little. 'I can't use my favourite combo, but I can still beat him' he thought to himself. "I shall pick the terms that we will be battling on." He continued when he saw the apprentice nod. "Unlimited cards, unlimited time, three cards per turn, first turn attack, field… graveyard, victory only in the other's total defeat, edge of death."

As soon as the words were said, the area around them turned into a pitch-black graveyard, the rest of the people sitting on bleachers that were magically provided as if this was a morbid football game. Those who didn't want to watch were instantly teleported away though. "Allow me to start," Zanki said with a snicker, drawing three cards from his deck. (A/N: I'm going to hurry this battle up a bit, hope that's ok.)

The first card was the Undead Call that was mentioned before. Next, Zanki used a Multi-Turn card. Every time Zanki was to sacrifice a creature at his disposal, he gets two new turns but not able to use any new cards. This allowed a constant generation of zombies. The last card was Undead Armory, at the cost of not using a new card per turn; he may equip an undead creature with black rune armor and weapons. Within ten minutes, Zanki had an ever-growing army of the undead.

At the crowd, the tension was beginning to show as people began to wonder how the great apprentice was to survive this one. There was attack first turn called, meaning that Zanki can just keep on bombarding Asura without him even having his first turn. A cruel, icy laugh rang throughout the arena as Zanki ordered his first attacks. Thousands upon thousands of zombies, skeletons, and those alike charged at Asura, who didn't move an inch. As soon as a black rune blade even came close to touching Asura, a new magical barrier that he erected in an instant repelled the entire army.

That wasn't all, for as each undead was turned into ashes, Zanki cried out in pain, not able to stand without hurting himself. He stared at Asura with blood shot eyes but said nothing as he ended his turn after making sure that he had at least a million fiends to defend him. 'Next turn, he's dead' Zanki thought, as he awaited Asura's move.

Before Asura did, though, he said only one word that made Zanki's blood boil to new limits. "Cheap." It was now Asura's turn and he was going to show this kid what actual power was. Everyone watched in awe and three golden cards appeared into his hand, radiating great amounts of magical energy and generating a great light.

"Fist Of Grigore!" A great titanic form shining with a silver light was raised above everyone and everything. It was rather obvious that the form was an image of Grigore himself, bounded with a multitude of chains. In one gigantic and forceful punch, each and every zombie was shattered, making Zanki's face look paler than ever. "Choice of Torntaka!" Five portals appeared, each a different colour, taking the pigment of the element that they each corresponded to. Then, a midnight blue dragon emerged out of one of the five. It size gave the image of Grigore a run for its money. Instead of the normal talons and wings like many other dragons, this one took more of the "Loch Ness" monster shape, with various fins on its body. It roared a magnificent battle cry and a blue moon rose in the background. Soon, great tumults of oceanic waves could be heard as a tidal wave crushed everything in its path towards Zanki. Each and every card that he had out was obliterated into nothingness. "Judgment of Zent!" The ancient yin-yang sign appeared and encircled Zanki with him in the middle. Then the two halves of the sign split, causing him to scream in pain, but the attack was nowhere near ending.

In a flash, Asura was right next to Zanki, his other two cards obediently behind him. "Give up," he said, not in any satisfied way, more like in sympathy. A tear stained Zanki silently nodded his head in defeat and everyone was returned to the main lobby.

When they got back, Zanki was in the fetal position, whimpering to himself. 'Perhaps I over did it?' Asura asked himself, but shrugged it off. "Come, Taroh, we're late." He commanded softly, as he headed for the doorway that was blocked from him before. Taroh followed nonchalantly.

SCENECHANGE

When the fight was over, Sakura was in awe at what Asura had done. Zanki was definitely strong, but he didn't even faze Asura. She would definitely have to be careful of him. But back to the task at hand now… A familiar green glow caught Sakura's eye as Asura and Taroh moved through the door.

She gasped as Syaoran's piece of the Lover's Stone stuck out of Taroh's back pocket. Did the little child steal it when she wasn't looking? No. That can't be it. There were no logical explanations that she could think of. There was really only one way to find out, and that's to go and find them.

Before she could though, she was snapped out of her thoughts by Tomoyo's voice. "Tao" she stated icily, and Sakura followed her gaze to see Tao coming towards them. She suddenly realized her friends and Syaoran's sisters were all around her. What was going on?

"I come in peace." He said, in his usual passive and light voice. "You look well Sakura." Sakura, Eriol and Tomoyo took semi-defensive stances while Meilin and the Li's only looked at him coolly, no worry on their faces at all. Turning his attention to Meilin and the others of their family, he spoke grimly. "You saw it too didn't you." Meilin nodded, followed with agreements from the sisters. "That's what I thought, I would be careful if I were you Sakura, Meilin, and the rest of you. Our little wolf has grown fangs." He ended with a slight smirk and started to retreat away. What was that about? She wondered, Eriol and Tomoyo looked confused. It was obvious it had something to do with Syaoran, but the only thing that gave her any clue about what was going on was Meilin's gloom expression…

Ok, I'm done for now, I'll be back to write the next chapter after dinner, and then I'm going to post it. I'll try to remember responses to reviews. You guys are the best. Can anyone guess what Tao was talking about? What about why the stone is with Taroh? Review with your guesses before you read the next chapter… but the answers may not be in the next chapter. On well… bye! See you guys later.

U-T Signing off…


	10. More Problems Part One: Hope For Syaoran

Disclaimer: I don't own CCS, rub it in my face why don't you?

All right! I'm back and full. Ready to continue. The response to reviews part is at the bottom of the chapter. At least I hope so, see you guys in a little while. The next update may be around March break with 2-4 chapters. It would be 2-3, but after those great reviews… I though I might update more… well… let the story go on…

Black Eye Of The Tao Abyss

Chapter Ten:

More Problems Part One: A Hope For Syaoran.

After getting a table to themselves and ordering food, Sakura and the gang were waiting expectantly for what Meilin and her cousins had discovered (and Tao too of course). Sakura even forgot about following Asura in the light of things. After all, who cares about the lover's stone when one could find the lover? Sakura flushed as she gave that title of affection to Syaoran, hoping the others couldn't see the colour in her face.

"So Meilin, mind telling us what's going on?" Tomoyo asked, curiosity obviously shown in her voice. Instead of Meilin answering, it was actually one of Syaoran's sisters who responded. "I suppose that it really all started about 10 generations after yours, ancestor," she said, nodding to Eriol, who in turn acknowledged what was said with a nod as well. (I really don't remember getting the names of Syaoran's sisters, anyone able to help?) "The name of this ancestor was not really known, we doubt he even knew his own name other than being a Li."

"You see, it isn't without a reason that Syaoran was named Xiao Lang, or as you prefer, Little Wolf. Our clan has been related to the pack of a wolf ever since this mysterious Li. It would seem that while he was young, our clan was devastated beyond all hope due to a massive clan war. The other clans at the time envied our power and wealth, and despite the fact that we did nothing to harm them, out of their jealousy, they ambushed us all together. Li was about the sole survivor, except perhaps for a few. In his time of hiding, he was around 10 years old, meaning that he was about as defenseless as a 1-year-old baby. A lone wolf found him and took him under her wing, metaphorically that is."

"Li grew up in the forest, learning ways of stealth, power, speed, and so forth from animals. By the time he was 18, the wolf that treated him as her son had joined a pack of other wolves. She was greatly welcomed, but he was not. Soon, over a period of 3 months, the old pack leader died and a new leader was declared through a massive all-out battle. This new leader detested humans for their physical weakness and wanted to kick Li out, but his "mother" would not allow that. At that, the leader attacked Li's mother-wolf. She was much older now and didn't really have a chance."

"Can we get to the point already?" Meilin asked, obviously uncomfortable about something. A stern look from the four sisters told her to be quiet and the story was continued. "Anyways, as the pack leader launched for his second attack, Li stood in the middle of the fray and received three scars on his chest. Each one of these was deeper than the next. The leader, having recognized the loyalty that was shown by this human, stepped a side after exchanged a few more blows as a test."

"Everyone lived happily for a while. That is, until poachers came and hunted about every one of them down. Li himself was captured and sold to what we would call a circus today. Every night of the full moon, he would howl for his mother and the others that were as close to him as a family can be. As more time passed, an elderly man bought him in terms of slavery for reasons that we could not gather. In a more domesticated environment, he learned to read, write, speak and such. He even started a family of his own with the daughter of the man that had enslaved him. The story of how that happened, is another for another time."

"Now, getting to the point, as the first child of Li grew into adulthood, Li could see the same scars on his son as the ones he had on his own chest. The child's mother could as well, but not the son himself. Since then, every time a new clan leader has matured and ripened into adulthood, that scar would be seen by everyone else in the clan to show that he is worthy. Nobody really understood why, but it did seem that the magic in our blood made this happen."

A silence took over as everybody digested what was said and thought about the subject on his or her own terms. "So you mean to say…" Eriol started, but was interrupted with the confirmation. "Yes," Tao said, appearing out of nowhere. Everyone turned to look at him while he just continued as if nothing was wrong. "This Asura managed to reveal those scars to us today, in the exhibition match. During his final blow, the three scars appeared. I was quite reluctant to believe at first, but it seems that I'm not the only one who saw." He finished, looking at his relatives.

"But I thought Syaoran was supposed to be the next clan leader." Tomoyo said, voicing everyone's question out into the open. Realization dawned onto her as she looked down. How could she have forgotten that Syaoran was- Tomoyo was snapped out of her thoughts with Tao speaking again. "It would seem that you forgot that our favourite little wolf is dead." He crooned, not sure whether to sound content or sorrowful.

Sakura look at the others around the table and realized that they were trying to hold back their tears as much as she was. "That's not possible," replied a calm Eriol. As all eyes turned onto him, he continued. "For magic as significant as what you have described, it would only work from blood to blood. So unless this Asura had drunk Syaoran's blood, there's no way that he could have bared that mark." This appeared to bring confusion upon everyone. "I don't think Syaoran had a brother now, had he?" Eriol asked, trying to solve this matter. The sisters said nothing and thought for a while before shaking their heads in the negative at the same time (that's really freaky).

"We'll ask mother," they said, still thinking about what this could all mean. It just happened that then, their food arrived, and their stomachs growled in approval. After a shared minute of laugher, they began to dig in. Tao returned back to his seat around a company dressed similarly as he is. (They're all wearing like… the witch hunter style ensemble, except all the clothes were white and matched with a light blue hint.)

It also happened that at that exact moment, the main door opened and the group saw Asura stride in with Taroh rubbing his eyes sleepily. He glanced around for a while, nodding to various people (including Sakura, to her surprise) and sat by another table not too far from them. Sakura scolded herself for not noticing that the Chairmen were occupying a table in the room as well. They seemed pretty intent on engaging Asura in their conversation.

Tomoyo, asking another question, brought Sakura back to her table. "Eriol, why were you swearing today?" Syaoran's sisters looked at him mildly surprised that their ancestor would act that way. "Forgive me, please," Eriol started, rubbing the back of his head in the embarrassed manner. "But you must believe me when I say that Asura is quite beyond what I had ever though of as the limit of human magic." Everyone was silent as they waited for him to continue.

"You see, during that exhibition match, Asura had shown some great skills and power by controlling that Abyss card so easily. As you all may well haven known, Abyss cards have great power to fulfill great tasks, but the cost is too much to bare for most people, depending on which card. The fury card that he used today would have made anyone here into a berserk killing machine at just level one! He managed to surpass that level and kept as cool as an ice berg." He said, as if talking to a bunch of school children.

"Levels?" One of the sisters asked. Eriol took a sip from his glass before he continued. "When he fought with fury, the flame around him would have signified the levels of rage that he was either tapping into or releasing. The red flames being level one. Barely anyone I know had been able to keep sane under level one and those that managed to enter level two were destroyed in an instant by their own rage. But Asura was able to tap into level three and remained calm while he wiped the field with the chairmen and imperials."

"Guess he must be really strong huh?" Meilin asked, more like a statement. Eriol shook his head as if frustrated with himself. "I don't get it, something doesn't feel right. During that fight, I sensed that Asura wasn't even paying attention to the fight. It was like he didn't even know what he was doing until each second before he made a move. It's like he's a machine or some kind of animal that only relied on instinct."

After that, everyone pretty much remained silent while eating, each thinking either about Syaoran or Asura. Or in Sakura's case, both.

Scene Change

"So Asura, tell me, why do you speak as one from the land of Fae?" Tashinku asked, clearly curious. "Were you brought up there? It seems to me that you are quite human."

"I am so, sire," Asura replied, remembering proper manners before people of power such as these chairmen before him. "During my years of training, I was garrisoned at various places in the Fae realm. In my education, I had to battle all creatures, good or evil. I learned that every creature had an ability to fight and win. Even the tiniest snail could win against a lion, but it just does not have the will to."

"Well said," Leroy appraised, nodding approvingly of the response. "What do you plan on doing after collecting all the abyss cards? That is, if you were to be successful at gathering them?"

"I would like to find my parents," Asura said, a look from Taroh reminded him to correct himself. "My apologies, our parents." Accenting on the "our" part. Taroh seemed happy with the change and continued to eat his ice cream leaving the adults and Asura in peace.

"It really is too bad that you do not remember them," Tashinku said, sympathetically. "I sure would have liked to meet them."

"Me too," Asura said, but before anything else could be said, an explosion resonated throughout the building and Syaoran stood up and dashed for where he knew the explosion came from after bidding the elders a quick good bye. Taroh, of course, tailed after him excitedly….

I'm done! I'm done! Yea! So here you are guys, I'm done these two chapters, here are the responses to your reviews. See? I do remember… But I'm not sure which are the new reviewers, sorry if I forgot you…

To silver angel 03:

I guess I kind of forgot about the thing with lemons, I want to put them in, but it's kind of complicated right now. I can't seem to even make it romantic. I mean seriously, how do I do that with no Syaoran in sight and I don't think u want me to make Sakura _that_ kind of a girl now do you? But I guess I can try something with Eriol and Tomoyo… I don't really know… Thanks for the review and I'm working on it, if you can tell me what would make it more… in the mood I'd gladly appreciate it. But I think there are still people who don't want lemons in this.

To GakiGurl09:

I hope this was worth the wait as you say it. Originally it wasn't going to be Asura (it's Asura, not Syaoran-Wannabe) but I guess I changed to make it flow better (couldn't see where I was going with the original) but I still think it is more obvious. Oh well it's the past now. Glad to see that you like this story and thanks for the review.

To Lil Cherry Blossom Angel:

I know that I'm going to need luck to write more. But I hope this was pleasing. Like I said before, I can't think about how to make things romantic due to the separation between Syaoran and Sakura. Besides, I don't really know what is considered as romantic and what is considered the thoughts of a perverted little boy. Well… I do know a bit, but I don't want to make the love incredibly corny but trying to force so much romance into it. And I'm trying to not make them seem OOC, but then again I don't remember their actual ways that they act… hasn't seen CCS in a while now. So anyways thanks for the review and hope this chapter finds you well…

My next update should be 2-4 chapters around March break, unless I feel this great urge to update earlier due to reviews or inspiration or something. Sorry for the wait…

U-T signing off…


End file.
